Legal Advocacy

If you have been harmed, we can help you

navigate your legal options.

What is a Domestic Violence Protective Order (DVPO)?

Our Legal Advocates can help you file for a Domestic Violence Protective Order (DVPO), a legal order that can help keep you safe from someone who has hurt or threatened you—like a current or former partner, spouse, or someone you live with.

If a judge grants the order, it can:

  • Tell the abusive person to stay away from you, your home, your job, or your children

  • Stop them from calling, texting, or messaging you

  • Make them move out of your home (if you live together)

  • Grant you temporary custody of your children

  • Require the abuser to give up any guns they have

You can ask for a temporary order right away and then go back to court about 10 days later for a full hearing. If the judge agrees, the final order can last up to one year—and you can ask to renew it if needed.

A DVPO is free to file.

Our Legal Advocacy program accepts clients on a walk-in basis. For same-day filing, we recommend that you come to our offices at the Durham Family Justice Center at 101 E. Morgan St. in Durham (close to the downtown library) as close to our opening time of 8:30 a.m. as possible.

Children are welcome in our office, but children are not usually allowed to be present in the courtroom, so make sure that you discuss the options available to you with your legal advocate.

LAP Program

The LAP Program stands for the Lethality Assessment Protocol and is a secure hotline that members of local law enforcement or medical staff can use to contact a member of our Legal Advocacy Team to help determine a victim’s likelihood of death after experiencing abuse. This assessment allows our staff to speak directly to the victim right after police or hospital involvement to discuss legal options and next steps for survivors to stay safe.

Other legal services include help filing for victim compensation, the address confidentiality program, and staff presence while you make a police report to an officer at our office.

Unfortunately, we can not provide help in criminal matters, divorce, or custody cases.

For more information about legal advocacy, call our administrative line at 919-403-9425.